"Log Boom #1"

Herald Nix, "Log Boom #1," oil on board.

HERALD NIX

New Works, September 25 to October 7, Wallace Galleries, Calgary

BY: Patricia Dawn Robertson

Herald Nix was literally laying the groundwork for his forthcoming fall exhibition when he spoke about the show. The low-key landscape artist has been building a new studio in his backyard in Salmon Arm, B.C. Nix needs more elbow-room so he can produce larger canvases of the lush, plein-air images inspired by the scenic topography of Salmon Arm. “I’ve always had an interest in landscape painting. When I was at the Vancouver School of Art, I met Jane Milne — David Milne’s niece — and she introduced me to his work. He’s a world-class painter and very underrated. Milne has been a big influence ever since,” says Nix, whose lyrical and unpretentious work reflects Milne’s delicate sensibilities. Nix sees landscape as a ‘vehicle for paint’ and his latest decision to shift from smaller-scale works to larger canvases means he’ll be using a lighter paint application. Yet his elegant subject matter, his own natural surroundings, remains the same.